Lemon Cardamom Chun Mee

This tea just isn’t for me. I’m not a big cardamom fan so I guess that’s no surprise?

Also I am WAY TO WORRIED about new things. I had this in my “mild tea” timolino and then I was worried it would contaminate it. So silly. These things are meant to be washed out so you can start again fresh. :P So now I am brewing up my Korean Sejak to cleanse my mouth.

Also this counts as a sipdown because there’s not enough to send to anyone and I am done with it. It’s ok 52Teas: you won’t win them all!

52teas 12 Days of Christmas Sampler 2012 – Day 9

This is another one I missed this year. It certainly is very lemon! The dry leaf aroma alone is super lemony. The brewed tea aroma is…different. I’m guessing that’s the Chun Mee and cardamom coming through.

The taste is rather lacking in my opinion. I get a strange green tea flavor that I assume is the Chun Mee. I’ve never had this type of green tea before so it’s a hard flavor to recognize. There’s also lemon but it’s not a super lemon like in the aroma. It’s much more subtle and blends nicely with the cardamom spice. But it’s not really spicy either. And neither sweet nor bitter. It’s just sort of…bland.

I’ve read reviews where people compare this to Sun and Cloud Mist. Honestly, they’re worlds apart! There’s really nothing similar about them at all in my opinion. Except of course that they both contain lemon. But really, Chun Mee and Yun Wu are two extremely different green teas. I much prefer the latter.

Maybe I needed more leaf, or maybe I needed to let it steep longer. I tried a second steep at 185 degrees for 3 minutes. The resultant cup is unfortunately not much different from the first. I added a bit of Truvia and now it’s a sweet lemony green tea. But it still sits heavy on the tongue and makes my mouth feel stuffed with cotton.

I’m not having an allergic reaction. :P Rather this tea leaves a thick, heavy feeling in the aftertaste. It’s not a clean feeling like I’ve experienced in other green teas, namely Organic Dragon Tip from Butiki Teas. In fact, I think I may go make a cup of that next to cleanse my palate. This is just too heavy and bland for my tastes.

This tea smells just like lemonade with a warm spiciness added. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this tea, I don’t really know if I like cardamom or not. I know that I do like lemongrass and lemon verbena. The tea smells like a vegetal green tea with a little lemon noticeable. Without sweetener you taste a grassy flavor, followed by a tart, citrusy note. With a little sweetener added everything blends together very nicely into a perfect mix of green tea, light lemon flavors and a slight spiciness. I like that the lemon is too overwhelming, it’s more balanced. I’m happy to say that I like this tea more than I thought I would!

-Dry blend has small green tea leaves, pieces of lemongrass and cardamom pods.
-Dry leaves smell like a slightly spicy lemonade. Tea liquor aroma is of vegetal green tea with a hint of lemon.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium yellow color.
-Light grassy flavor with a subdued citrusy finish. Very subtle spicy aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Gentle citrusy flavors with a hint of spice.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a mug full of… lemon cardamom chun mee tea.

I took a huge sigh when I saw the flavour as I absolutely hate cardamom. :(

Whilst raw the tea smells of lemon but not specifically cardamom (thankfully). Once brewed it forms a golden honey colour with the same sharp lemon smell.

Well here goes nothing sip… wow not as bad as I was expecting. Again it’s lemony with lemongrass being quite strong and it does sort of taste like cardamom but I love lemongrass so I can see past that. It’s very fresh and clean tasting without being over powering or too sharp. It’s also naturally sweet and pleasing, the chun mee is light with a slight green perfumey aftertaste.

It’s nicer than I thought it would be and while it does taste like cardamom it has more than just that element to it. Quite simply if you dislike one thing you can appreciate another. :)

Had some of this one for the first time after the big dinner. It was nice and soothing on a full belly and went down nicely with no additions. The scent is of bright, intense lemon with a hint of spice from the cardamom. I was kind of surprised this made it into the 12 teas box; it looked a little ho-hum next to some of the other blends Frank is famous for.

I was wrong, though! This is pretty nice, and definitely holds its own. All of the flavours come together nicely and it made a nice after dinner tea. Not a favourite but still quite good.

I’m a big fan of both cardamom and lemon, so I was very excited to try this blend out. The dry leaves smell mostly of lemon with a hint of cardamom. The smell is wonderful! I caught myself sniffing the bag more than was probably appropriate.

I got three good steeps out of this tea (adding 30s each time). The chun mee base is smooth and blends with the lemon and cardamom beautifully. The citrus components of the flavor were the strongest. I really wish I could taste more cardamom. It’s very subtle, but still nice. I might try throwing in some extra cardamom the next time I make this tea.

Twelves Teas of X-mas #9. I find that I like this particular lemon green blend better than the Sun and Cloud Mist – I’m not quite sure what it is, but part of it I think is that the base is milder and the lemon isn’t as strong or sharp. The cardamom is subtle but adds a little bit of spice that makes this blend unusual – there are a lot of lemon-flavoured teas out there but the cardamom makes it stand out.

brewing two cups of tea at the same time.
3 day work week vs a wednesday that feels like a monday.
everything feels old and stiff and stuck.
looking forward to my gym time.
daydreaming about working at a library or a museum.

This is really good for my cold (which my mom gave me) It’s also very tasty :D